Sweet Revenge
by VaneBledsoe
Summary: An elite mechwarrior, and her quest for Revenge First fiction: I may revise it someday in some distant time, but not soon.
1. Remember

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Capitol City, Kentares IV 

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Steiner Invasion

A siren blared. Claire Seredon immediately stood up and got ready. She had already been awake, waiting for the siren to blare. 

It was 0500 hours and the sun had just begun to peak over the horizon, giving the sky the beautiful orange and pink glow in the West. She stepped outside her tent; all suited up and ready for her op. She stopped to admire the sunrise, as she did every morning. She was that kind of girl, the kind that loves to feel the cool air their face, the kind of girl that loves the sunrise majesties. 

Kentares is the perfect place for a girl like Claire. But she wasn't here enjoy the sunrise, she was here to fight, and to kill. She turned away from the sun, and continued on to the Command Center.

One-by-one, the Mech Warriors filed in to the Briefing Room, with Claire at the podium. No man or woman said one word; they were silent, coming in, or after sitting down. They all had the same subject on their minds, today's op, and if they were going to come back alive. 

Claire paused after they were all seated, looking around the room in a general-like manner. "This is it people…" she started. "We have come along way for this, this is the day we send Roland and his cronies running in fear." "We all have our personal vendettas here, now is the time to claim our revenge, and our beloved planet!" she said. The room roared with "Hell Yea's" and other various cheers. 

She then started the briefing. "Reports are in that Ian Dresari and Omega lance has successfully secured a staging area for the resistance. Our first op is to sweep the perimeter of this area and ensure that no mechs or vehicles escaped, or any that are moving in to counter, this will be preformed by Scepter Lance." Several nods in the room pointed out who was going where. 

Her tone then grew more serious and deadly. "We also have reports of 5 Steiner Assault Lances moving in on the base where Miss Johanna Dresari and her resistance force is stationed. 

Low murmuring accompanied by looks of fear rose in the room. They had heard the rumors of the assault lance, hence the one thought in all their heads, but about Miss Dresari…That arose new thoughts._ "What if she's killed? What then?_" "_What if we don't make it in time and die in the process, will we have died in vain?_" A loud clearing of the throat silenced the room. 

"I know this is a shocker to all of you, but we have to get there." She said. "Our other three lances will intercept and destroy as many enemy mechs as possible…" her voice trailed off. 

"_Big mistake." _She thought. _"Talking like were all gonna die! What the hell was I thinking?"_ She came to the bitter conclusion that she wasn't thinking, that she knew. 

"It's going to be a tough fight," she continued, "and reinforcements from Omega lance are on the way, however they're too far out, and we're the only source of relief." The room was silent. 

She begun her pep talk, "Just remember that your doing this not only for Miss. Johanna, were doing this for all the innocent people that were killed, for our friends and loved ones…" again her voice had trailed off, obviously, she was an apparent "victim" of this tragedy. 

Her voice boomed, "this is for all our people! The ones who died trying, this is for our planet!" her voice lowered again, this time into a low, deadly voice, "but most of all, this is for ourselves, so that we can have our sweet vengeance, we all seek it, let us find it!" 

The room rocked with encouraging shouts and applause. "Kill them all!" she shouted.

The run would take almost an entire day. Ian Dresari and his lance were busy on another op, which would delay them even longer. The odds got worse. 

Claire stood before her mech, a _Nova Cat_ ready and prepped to go. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Scepter Lance moving out, "Godspeed." She said under her breath. The turned back to her mech, code-named "_Vengeance."_ She recalled something funny that she heard from her tactical officer. Apparently, her mech shares the same name as the _Atlas_ that which Ian Dresari pilots. 

Her smile faded, she could relate to him. Ian Dresari, Prince of Kentares IV, a hero of the Clan Wars and victim of the pain of losing his entire family, save his sister…

"_Yes,"_ she thought,_ "I can relate to that."_ She recalled that fateful day not so long ago, she remembered him. She remembered how he died fighting. She remembered watching all of it, helpless, seeing him die his horrible death. 

A lone tear streamed down her cheek. However, he didn't go down in vein, he went down with honor, with pride, and 3 entire enemy lances. She was here for him. She looked back up at her Nova Cat and rubbed her watering eyes. 

The giant mech before her seemed to beckon her, it wanted the same revenge as well, but the behemoth wanted it now and it wasn't going to wait. "This is for Him…" she whispered softly, then climbed the rope ladder into the cockpit.

Claire Seredon was a young cadet with much promise at the Advance Academy on _Terra_. She was a tall, young, and beautiful sandy haired 19 year-old girl. She had every guy falling for her left and right, and apparently was getting pretty sick of it. 

She eventually got so fed up with their begging that she issued a challenge. 

She said "Beat me on the Field and then I'll think about it." 

And as she suspected, that extremely shortened the list. For awhile she enjoyed the solitude… until he arrived. 

His name was Mike Morell; a House Davion Cadet transferred because of his advanced abilities. He was also a tall young 21 year-old man. With brown hair, and a very muscular figure, that of a trooper's. 

The instant she met him she knew that he was different, she _wanted_ to fight this guy… so she did. 

Upon the battlefield, she got her ass kicked, and badly. The odds were on her side, she was in a _Chimera_, and he chose a _Shadow Cat._ Round after round, salvo after salvo, they shredded each other's armor away. Mike kept firing his pulse lasers, putting holes into her chassis like Swiss cheese. 

She would take her time, making she had a clear shot before she would altogether rip apart one of his chassis's limbs. 

In the end game she risked an Alpha Strike. All of her MRM's missed their mark, but she did nail him with her lasers and was successful in destroying his arms. 

Then the heat came like a MACK truck, drenching her with sweat, she noticed she pushed the heat level to the yellow red zone and it would be awhile until she could fire again. She took her eyes away from her console to find that Mike had disappeared. 

She looked around frantically; losing your target in the heat of battle was _not _a good thing. She looked up, only to see Mike's _Shadow Cat_ coming down from its' jump andfire its' Large Laser to finish her off. 

Since then, they had been together as House Davion Mech Warriors. Fighting side by side, forever rivals, forever friends, forever bound to each other by their love… until that day came.

On the third day of the Steiner invasion, he was killed. They were on a date together, watching the sunrise when it happened. The instant the alarms blared, they knew they were in serious trouble. 

Forces on Kentares that were loyal to Katrina Steiner and her troops turned on their own, forcing Duke Eric's Army to protect the capitol. Immediately Claire and Mike scrambled back to their base, only to find it lying in ruins, the other warriors killed in their barracks. However, they were able to locate a group of soldiers and mechs that were on patrol and had come back to the base like they had, stunned. 

Upon Mike and Claire's arrival, they were immediately welcomed and given a two assault mechs that had survived the initial attack, a _Highlander_, and an _Awesome_. 

Claire powered up the _Nova Cat_ and ordered the lances to move out. She recalled the fights in the city, all of them had been bloody and brutal; but no battle was as brutal or as vividly horrible as the fight that killed him. 

"We have to split up." Mike said. "It will be easier to eliminate these guys that way."

"Roger!" Claire replied, "but don't go far ok?"

Claire and Mike were facing down 3 lances worth of Steiner mechs scattered throughout the city. Almost all of which Mike encountered and destroyed. Claire destroyed a few, when suddenly a harsh, cold, and steely voice crackled over the open frequency.

"This is Lt. Daniel Renomen," the cold voice stated, "I have come to finally swat away you annoying flies."

Claire taunted him "Well then bring it on, prick!" 

Claire turned her mech around a corner when she was caught off guard and hit hard by two PPC's and a Gauss slug, violently rocking her mech. Claire, struggling to keep her mech upright, ventured a look at her attacker. She saw an _Atlas_ barreling towards her. She fired her lasers at it melting the armor of its center torso, but the elite didn't even blink. She started backpedaling.

"Uh Mike…I need a hand here." There was a trace of panic in her voice.

The Lieutenant chuckled, "Oh but he'll be all to late! By the time he gets here you'll be a burning hole in the ground!" and at the same time firing all his weapons at her. She instinctively fired her jump jets, avoiding the gauss slug, but the PPC shots hit her legs, followed by missiles and a flurry of pulse lasers shooting off the _Highlander's _left leg at the knee, thus causing her to spin out and crash into a building. 

The _Atlas _paused to cool down, an attack like that had pushed it into the red zone. Claire's mind was a blur of colors and images, when she finally came out of the fog and into reality, she saw the _Atlas_ standing over her like the grim reaper. Her eyes were wide with fear. She was trapped, there was nothing she could do and this was the end. 

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" a familiar voice, yelled over the radio. Mike's _Awesome_ came charging down the street like a freight train, chaining all his weapons relentlessly hitting the _Atlas_ with his PPC's accompanied by a steady flow of SRM's and a barrage of pulse lasers. 

Lt. Renomen struggled to keep his mech steady.

However, he still managed one of those cheesy taunts, "Ah the knight in shining armor hmm? Then I'll kill you first, no need in killing a worthless girl who's practically dead."

With the last few shots from Mike's barrage, he was able to destroy his LRM's and one PPC's, a good sign, but now the _Awesome_ was starting to overheat leaving it vulnerable in the narrow street with no block corner to duck behind in time. The _Atlas_ slowly turned to face Mike's vulnerable mech, and opened fire on him. 

The PPC's and lasers carving away his armor like a hammer and chisel. His mech had already sustained much damage from the other lances; this was going to be it. 

Mike was gasping for air, it was so hot in his cockpit, he was dimly aware of the lasers cutting through to his inner chassis.

When he came to his senses he had time for one last shot. Some of the protective covering on his core was exposed.

"_Better make it an alpha strike_." He thought.

At once Mike did as he would, firing off a brutal Alpha Strike, causing the _Atlas _to shudder violently, but to no avail, the _Atlas _and its pilot were sill there, laughing at his futile attempt.

The _Awesome _overheated, and shut down. Mike fell into unconsciousness, leaving him subject to whatever brutal punishment the vicious man could think of.

The _Atlas_ then moved slowly in on its prey, as does a wolf that has cornered a deer. Claire couldn't do anything; her mech was buried in the rubble of a building only exposing the cockpit and shoulders so that she could watch it all play out before her eyes. 

She reached her hand out to the _Awesome,_ as if she could grab it and save Mike from his stalking predator. But she couldn't, and she felt streams of tears running down her cheeks. The _Atlas _stood before the lifeless mech, it had its' share of damage and had no weapons left save its one last arm.

"You pest." The lieutenant said, then slammed the _Atlas's _hand into the _Awesome's_ cockpit.

More to come in Part 2.

Ok updated to a hopefully adequate format, don't talk about the evil LT guy, I know he's cheesy as hell. As for anything that complies with the BT history, I beg forgiveness, I don't know very much about it.

Shank.

Lead…tastes great, less filling.


	2. Wandering Thoughts

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Capitol City, Kentares IV

Fed Com Civil War,

Steiner Invasion

"Ma'am, are you sure you're alright?"

Claire snapped out of her trance. "Hmm? Yes I'm fine Davis."

"With all due respect Ma'am, I don't think so," Davis replied.

"Oh? Why would you say that? Am I not slowing down for you like I usually do?" Claire shot an officer's taunt at him, hoping it would shut him up.

"Well…" Davis paused for a second absorbing the insult to his amateur's skill, "I can see you from here Ma'am, you're crying."

Claire sunk way back into her command couch. "Enough," she said, "I'm just going over some memories, that's all."

David replied a little sheepishly, "Umm, it's a secure channel, you want to talk about it?"

"No, that's enough now, take your column and move down Pooler Avenue." She ended the conversation with her authority.

He sighed and said, "Ai, moving out." 

Then one of the columns rolled past a wrecked _Highlander_, buried up to the shoulders in the rubble of a building.

A recruit's voice came over the open frequency, "Damn…doesn't look like somebody had a lot of luck here." 

"Apparently…" Claire kept moving down the road. "But it looks like whoever was in there got out ok."

Davis gawked at his leader. "Sergeant…" he said, "you didn't take one look at that mech."

"Of course I did! 'The hell you talking about?" Claire shot back at him; there was a slight hint of panic and embarrassment in her voice.

"Serge, you're on a different street…" Davis was clearly starting to wonder about his chivalrous leader.

Claire was silent, she wanted to keep moving but she was about five hundred meters ahead of the columns now. They had been moving for the last four hours, she really didn't want to stop, much less broadcast her story to her lance. She didn't think they needed that kind of story right now.

At length she finally said, "C'mon, we've got a job to do." 

Claire was horrified; the _Atlas_ had to twist its hand around in the _Awesome's_ head in order to get it free, no annoyance to the lieutenant, he was enjoying himself, until the hand ended up staying in the _Awesome_, leaving him with no weapons whatsoever.

Claire didn't know whether to scream in anger or to cry in pain, she sat with her hand still extended towards the _Awesome_, her eyes were wide in shock, gushing tears like a natural spring. 

The giant slaughterer approached her mech. The cold voice rattled in her cockpit, driving her mad.

"Let's be sporting and call this truce hmm?" He claimed a draw but there was an obvious hint of victory in his voice.

Claire gritted her teeth, "Kill me now…" she hissed.

The lieutenant snickered, "Well seeing as I have no weapons to do that, that's simply out of the question. You live today,"

"KILL ME NOW DAMNIT!" Claire was now kicking and screaming inside her cockpit kicking against the cockpit windows, tears were a large percentage of the matter being ripped and thrown around in the little prison.

The _Atlas_ turned and walked towards the remains of the Awesome. The Lieutenant pretended to reprimand her as a final, brutal, taunt.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk…. Surely you can't be _that_ crazy for an amateur like_ him_. You do realize that bout lasted a little over 30 seconds don't you? You shouldn't have wasted your time with this mediocre pilot, it's a severe waste of a perfectly good mech."

The _Atlas_ then kicked over what was left of Mike's chassis and walked down the street.

Claire was speechless. The endless flow of emotions, anger, pain, sadness, fury, confusion, regrets, they begun to take their pricey toll. The swirl and twirl of these emotions was so overwhelming to her. She decided to settle on one. She slumped back into her couch, covered her face with her hands, and cried.

Hours later the surviving platoon from the base had been tracking their movements. They found Claire asleep in her cockpit, tears still running down her face, and the strange addition of a faint smile. It seemed like she had settled on another feeling as well…revenge.

"Christ!" Davis's voice once again rattled her from the endless void that was her mind. 

"Damnit Sarge, if I have to keep you from daydreaming one more time-"

Claire interrupted him, "you'll do _what?_" her tone had turned cynical.

"Err…never mind Sergeant." The other pilots snickered at his cowardice.

Hours passed by; the columns of mechs were slowly closing the distance between them and Miss Johanna's base, as they got closer everyone's nerves started rattling. They were now passing through enemy territory, Intel suggested it was only light vehicles but still, everyone felt like they were walking to their execution. Another hour passed and they saw the base.

It was under attack.

More to come.

Yargh...Alright, I hope that's the right format. Sorry, no mech fighting in this one, just thought I'd finish up the main character's past. The next one should come up fairly quickly, rest assured its gonna be pure fighting. I'm not to keen on the history of BT, I know a little bit but that's because I played MW3 and 4 and I've been studying a lot of other fan fics that have a good deal of history in them. Otherwise your just gonna have to gimme some slack lol. 

Shank

Definition: Lead- Tastes great, less filling.


	3. Pay backs

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The only way to pay the price of death is death itself.

Capitol City, Kentares IV

Fed Com Civil War.

Steiner Invasion

"Alright now people we need to MOVE!" Claire shouted upon site of the base. 

"Davis get up there now and grab their attention!"

"Already on it Ma'am!" The medium lance was moving at top speed, moving down the street like a bullet train.

She saw two Davion Peregrines fly over. "REPORT!" she commanded.

The pilot didn't change direction, but responded and said, "This is Raptor 3 we are flying recon to ensure safe retreat passage."

"Roger, report back to Miss Johanna and get her down this street, we have a full battalion of vehicles waiting." 

The Peregrines altered their course and headed back towards the base. In an instant, Claire saw several laser bolts tear into the Peregrines. Raptor 3's chopper was cut in half, the edges of where there had been circuitry and armor were emitting a bright, luminous orange glow as it went down and crashed into a building…no ejection.

The other helicopter was merely blown out of the sky by an overkill shot from a PPC.

A pilot's voice came over the radio; "We got company! Holy shit do we have company."

"Report! What the hell is going on?" Claire sounded frantic; she hoped that Davis and his lance got past these unknown mechs without notice.

"We have two assault mechs coming down one of the streets…they've split up!" The pilot reported.

"Roger, Venom, move out!" Claire ordered.

Venom lance was the heavy lance. A simple Affirmative was heard, then Venom Lance moved down a different street to intercept.

Venom lance split up and searched for its quarry. Venom consisted of 6 heavy mechs, a _Mad Cat_, two _Thors_, a _Thanatos_, and two _Vultures. _The two enemy mechs consisted of a _Nova Cat_, and a modified _Mauler._

It was the _Vultures_ that came on the _Mauler. _Before they could even fire off a few missiles, they were overcome by a massive onslaught of auto cannons, and their armor was falling to the ground like shattered glass. 

They unleashed hell fury attack of pulse lasers on the _Mauler_, cutting deep cavities into to the thick chassis. The _Vultures_ got their lock and unleashed a massive bombardment of LRM's. They may have been a little into close range but the tracking missiles still did their job. Eighty missiles directly hit the assault mech, hitting wave after wave, widening the gaps in the armor that the pulse lasers had started, and throwing tiny bits of the _Mauler's_ armor in every direction. The pilot struggled to keep the chassis on its feet. 

The behemoth still stood, despite the severe collateral damage it had endured. There was a slight pause as the Mauler was completely still, its pilot infuriated, and its battle scars still giving off white wisps of smoke. The pause took its effect on the _Vulture _pilots; it was just what an enemy in an impossibly strong chassis needed to be more intimidating. 

Though the _Mauler_ was one shot away from critical, the _Vulture _pilots started backpedaling in utter fear. A true mech warrior may laugh and shame them, but they were not true warriors, they were simply pilots the resistance rounded up. None save a few in the resistance knew how to pilot a mech with any real skill. 

The _Mauler_ instantly chased after them then fired its newly installed LBX-20 scattershot at one of the fleeting _Vultures_. Shrapnel filled the space between the two, tiny chunks of metal buried themselves deeply into the _Vulture's_ torso, making cracks and rivets underneath its surface causing most of the armor to fall off in giant chunks and exposing the inner chassis in some places.

Upon impact of the massive shot, the _Vulture_ fell over onto the hard pavement and did not get up. The _Mauler_ turned its attention to the other which had disappeared down another street into the city. 

The _Mauler_ instinctively came on guard, spinning its torso every-which-way, but apparently didn't notice the _Vulture_ creeping slowly up behind it. The _Vulture _had turned to passive sensors as to conceal its ambush.

The _Mauler _turned around slowly, as if he already knew what the _Vulture_ had done. 

Upon seeing the critically damaged weak spots of the crippled mech, the _Vulture _unleashed a massive alpha strike.

The pulse lasers sliced into the critical mech igniting explosions within the _Mauler's_ massive ammunition bins. The missiles came at point blank range, blasting away at everything within the _Mauler,_ including its core. All at once, a bright white light begun illuminating everything, giant bluish rays showing through the cuts and cracks, small explosions still from its inner munitions jostled the _Mauler_ this way and that, while the light within it began to grow bigger and brighter.

The_ Vulture_ instinctively started backpedaling for its life. Then the blast came, engulfing everything in its wave of fire, including the _Vulture._ When the smoke lifted there was nothing left of either of the mechs, with the exception of a giant smoldering crater in the middle of the city. No buildings stood inside 100 meters of the blast. And neither of the pilots had the sense to eject.

The _Thanatos _was the first to find the _Nova Cat_, however the pilot didn't even have the fortune to even fire off any of his weapons, as he received two PPC shots directly to the head after he rounded a corner.

The _Nova Cat_ looked up to the response of a missile lock, all of a sudden streams of more LRM's came bashing into its armor from different directions. The LRM's made an easy job of clearing away the reflective armor from the _Nova_, flinging it everywhere.

The _Nova _was swaying like a drunk after the brutal assault. When the pilot finally steadied it, he turned to see a _Mad Cat_ barreling down the street towards him at top speed. He was still unaware of the two _Thors_ behind him on a nearby building. 

The _Mad Cat _fired off its lasers at the frightfully calm _Nova._ One shot managed to melt armor off of a more damaged area, causing molten armor to splatter of onto buildings and pavement, steaming as it burned holes in anything it landed on. The rest of the shots bounced harmlessly off the chassis and destroyed the good upper half of a building. 

The _Nova Cat's_ pilot was a veteran, with a master's aim. One careful shot to the charging _Mad Cat's_ leg and it fell helplessly to the ground, its leg completely severed at the hip. 

It was this time that the _Thors_ decided it was the time to jump in. They executed the deadly D.F.A. maneuver and landing with precision on each of the _Nova's _shoulders, slamming the massive chassis into the ground like two balls and a bowling pin. 

They spun their torsos around and fired off their auto cannons along with a second salvo of LRM 15's. Further weakening the armor off the flattened _Nova Cat_. 

Suddenly, a massive wall of missiles passed between the two _Thors_, barely hitting them as they finally touched down from their double jump. The bombardment had came from the fallen_ Mad Cat_, who had been successful in propping the mech up with its arm allowing a single missile rack a clear unobstructed shot at the other fallen mech.

The flow of missiles zoomed towards the struggling chassis, already thoroughly buried into the ground. They slammed into the _Nova_ and its hapless pilot. When the smoke settled, they found the _Nova_ beheaded, and the rest of the chassis buried halfway into the thick Ferro-Crete Street. 

The three remaining pilots looked on their achievement momentarily, an awkward silence caused from the defeat of formidable foes, and the loss of half their lance. At length the two _Thors_ finally turned to catch up with the main attack group.

Claire stared on with sheer horror, as did all of the men and women that stood with her. The base was in ashes; there were traces Steiner units everywhere, explosions could be heard or seen over the tops of buildings.

She waited for the other lances to regroup. Two lone _Thors_ approached her lance.

"Where's Corporal Houn?" she demanded the pilots.

"His mech took a hit to the leg, he's still stuck back there" a nervous voice replied. "Kyle, Van, and Peter…didn't make it."

Claire took a moment to absorb this. She swallowed and nodded slowly. "Roger."

She tried calling for Davis's lance. "Spearhead come in, Report!"…static.

"_Not good,"_ she thought. "Right then, we'll do this without them! Everyone, vehicles, mechs, all units, attack my target on my mark. Understood?"

Affirmatives and Rogers were heard throughout the battalion. There was a slight pause as the pilots cracked their knuckles and got ready for the fight of their life. Only hours ago had they been reluctant to march with her straight into oblivion, now they all seemed battle-hardened, and Claire, much less them selves really didn't know why.

High-pitched noises could be heard from some mechs laser mounts as they were activated. A steady hiss could be heard from the missile racks of vehicles as they armed all their deadly warheads. 

Soon after, everyone had their lock and they were ready to take down a careless _Sunder_ idly chasing after an ambulance, being sure not to hit it with its lasers and rather give it a good scare. Claire couldn't have been more disgusted; her troops were only waiting for the order.

"FIRE!" she yelled.

Instantly, an utterly massive wave of lasers, lead, and missiles hit the _Sunder_, immediately knocking it to the ground. Apparently, everyone choose to use an Alpha Strike, seemed as though they had all shared the same thoughts about the enemy pilot. 

The Steiner mech never had a chance; it had fallen and wasn't getting up. Upon closer inspection, they noticed that the entire upper torso was cored through. 

"I personally couldn't have chosen a better way to go...could you?" She asked turning to her troops. Laughs and snickers could be heard over the radio, confirming their approval of the Steiner's death.

Suddenly the ambulance hailed them. "This is Medical unit Foxtrot 3-4, identify yourselves." Said a very nervous and quavering voice. 

Claire smiled and replied, "This is Master Sergeant Claire Seredon of Tsunami lance, I'm here with the 2nd Resistance Battalion. We are here to assist Miss Johanna Dresari in defending the base."

The medical unit's communicator paused before responding, "Miss Johanna is aboard our unit. Everyone else save a few other vehicles are the only ones left, everyone else is dead."

A wave of commotion came over the radio. Claire shushed to try to get more of the story but apparently that was all there was to hear.

"Right then," she said "I want all of our vehicles to escort the ambulance back to our base, and pick up Houn on the way back. Affirmative?"

Without a word, the columns did a 180 and speed down the street with the ambulance. 

Claire once again tried to contact Davis. "Davis come in, do you read me? DAVIS ANSWER ME!" she was starting to get very nervous. Without Davis and his lance there wasn't any mechs she could afford to provide extra support for Miss Dresari. 

A weak crackling signal came over the comm. "Serge this is Davis, I read you…you only had to yell Ma'am."

Claire was half bemused for his dis, and half-relieved to know he was alive.

"Christ Davis where the hell did you go? Listen we need you and your lance to head to the coordinates were sending you now, you should come up on the columns and an ambulance. I need you to guard it with your life. Understand?"

Davis was silent. After a moment's peace, he said, "Um about that…half my lance is gone, we led the front waves away from the base and now we're being held up by a single assault mech."

"Can you try and outrun him?" she asked desperately.

"The rest of my lance can, I'll have to stay and distract it if they can have clear passage to get to Miss Dresari."

Claire was a bit taken aback, not only by his sudden courage but his knowledge of Miss Dresari's status. "How...did you?"

"Simple," he replied smugly, "Guard it with your life, understand?" His tone took that of one very similar to Claire's.

Now she was _really_ surprised, she gritted her teeth and said, "You seem to have gone a bit bold lately Davis…I'm not sure I like it much."

The replying voice laughed "That's what a hopeless battle will do to you Sergeant, no one can help that…" his voice trailed off. "Serge, we all walked without question under your lead into this battle, and we all know were not going to walk out…well not me at least."

Claire's eyes started to widen, her mouth opened to say something but nothing would come out. Davis popped up on her HUD in a little window. He was smiling; he gave her a small salute, then flipped down his visor.

"This is my last stand Serge, take care." His window disappeared from her HUD.

Claire gripped her controls tightly and gritted her teeth harder. "_Who does he think he's kidding? He won't last against the assault for 30 seconds!"_ she paused and lowered her head into deeper thought. "_Huh, if he wasn't so crazy, that just might have sounded…heroic." _She smiled.

"DAVIS YOU CRAZY BASTARD!" she yelled, there was another wave of movement among the battalion. She clearly ripped all the pilots from their stupor, making all of them wince, their mechs twitched from pulling on their controls. 

Normally it would be just a typical thing to hear Claire yelling at her cadets, especially Davis, but Davis's sudden nobility and courage really sent them onto the turntable; anything would seem unexpected at this point.

Claire finally came to a decision. "Davis…where is the main enemy body?"

Davis's voice was heard once again, 900 meters north of my location, I'm here goofing around with an _Atlas_. The bastard can't even touch me. I already have my units moving to your coordinates."

"Roger, Venom lance I want you playing extra support for Foxtrot 3-4, Tsunami Lance were taking down that enemy body, copy?"

All of the pilots replied in unison except for the two _Thor _pilots. 

Claire knew what was coming next. "Venom lance, no exceptions stay with Miss Johanna, and that's an order!" 

The two pilots did not respond, but they did as they were ordered, and ran down the street to catch up with the columns.

Claire sighed and finally said, "Alright, Tsunami lance…" she paused, all of her troops were anticipating the final order. "Do what you do best!"

They all split up, each taking a street. Slowly, they began to grow farther and farther apart. Claire really didn't think this as a good idea but she didn't want to stop them for some reason, bringing them together didn't sound like a good idea either.

All of a sudden, she started hearing yells and taunts on the open frequency, "It's started." She said quietly to herself.

A voice sounded "Serge! We need you help! Two units already down, we need to re- AAHHHHGH!" There was a giant roar, then static.

"Tsunami 1-3, please respond!" she heard her tactical officer on the comm. "Please respond!" he repeated…nothing. "Tsunami lead, you have three units down, rendezvous at…no four units down! Retreat immediately, I have your lancemate on to the following coordinates-"

"No." she said flatly, "I'm not coming out without Davis."

"Your call Tsunami lead, Omega lance is en route, and Scepter lance reports mission accomplished…you could retreat now and-"

"No." she repeated herself.

"…Roger that then, proceed at your own discretion." He said, and continued giving out other orders.

"_What the hell did I just DO?"_ she thought to herself, _"He's probably already dead, no use going after him."_ Then another tiny voice came into her head, "_But what if he needs help? What if there are other things that need to be done?"_ The bigger voice sounded again, _"Other things? Like what?_

The little voice need not answer, "Revenge." Claire said aloud. The big voice was ecstatic_ "REVENGE? Who's to say that man's even here? Who's to say that you will just walk up on him?_

__

"I did say a few things about revenge in my speech." She thought._ "That would have been useless on this mission unless I knew what was going to happen."_

She came out of her thought and headed towards Davis's position. 

"Davis!" she said loudly, "Have you identified the pilot of the _Atlas_?"

Davis's voice crackled, Claire could make out sounds of explosions happening near his cockpit, "WHAT? What for?"

"I'd really like to know, He just might be the man I'm looking for if you catch my drift." She replied.

"I'm…not to sure I do…" he said, "but his name's Renoman, real prick…do you know him or something?"

Claire was silent; a sudden chill had passed through her entire mech. "Retreat Corporal! That's an order!" there was definitely a trace of anger and panic in her voice.

"Um…roger but I kinda ha- WOAH!" there was a huge roar of sound, apparently something had passed so close to his cockpit that she winced at the noise over the radio.

"Listen I got my hands full! Um…out!" Radio silence.

Claire found that she was gripping her controls rather tightly, she slammed the throttle to top speed and rushed down the opposite street like a giant rolling boulder.

"I'm coming Davis! Hang on!" she yelled into her mike.

Davis was sweating bullets; he had narrowly dodged a PPC shot to his head. _"Claire seemed pretty scared of this guy, and she definitely has no reason NOT to be." _He thought_._

Davis was in a Custom _Bushwhacker_, nicely equipped with a Clan Gauss Rifle, an ER Large Laser, a LRM 15, and a LRM 10. His "_Bushy_" was also decked out with AMS, which was running low on ammo, and a BAP. But the only real thing he had on the _Atlas_, was speed.

His sudden courage had sparked a skill within him never seen before; he was running fast circles around Lt. Renoman, executing a perfect COD maneuver all by himself. Luckily he had the room to do so; a parking lot was their battleground. 

The Leftenant was starting to get very ticked. "Hold Still!" he shouted, only to be laughed at maliciously. He was getting weary of Davis's tactics and wanted to rid himself of this annoyance, yet he could not be presented with any clear shot.

Davis was starting to get very concerned about ammo for his AMS and his Gauss rifle. He had six gauss slugs left, and 24 AMS. He noticed the Leftenant trying to reverse his spinning to get one decent shot; Davis sped up, and at the same time fired his large laser at the giant target. 

The great beam made a direct hit, scoring a giant hole in the center torso of the _Atlas_. The outer edges were glowing; tiny droplets of molten metal were starting to drip down the front of the _Atlas_ like rain on a window.

Still, Davis was getting perturbed with the fact that all of his shots were not scoring deep enough to make any critical damage. The outside appearance of the _Atlas _could be easily described as Swiss cheese, as there were shallow holes in various parts of the mech, with the exception of glowing streams of melted armor trickling down the sides of the mech, giving a sort of cracked up appearance to the _Atlas_, and making it look if anything, much more eerie.

The Lt. Began firing off all his weapons at random in an insane attempt to hit Davis. PPC's made singed craters in the think pavement, missiles were exploding everywhere, and pulse lasers were tossing up bits of pavement in every direction.

It was like the battle on the shores of Normandy for Davis, he had turned his attention to dodging the massive bombardment of missiles exploding on the pavement everywhere, narrowly missing newly made craters from which he could trip. He took a little bit of damage but for the most part was pleased with himself for doing so well. Still, he noticed he was down to 17 AMS.

"C'mon Renoman, I _know _you can do better than that!" Davis thought he had deserved the right to throw out a nice little taunt.

Renoman was furious. There was no way in hell he would be defeated by a low-class pilot in a medium mech. 

"Just wait till I get my _hands_ on you!" the Leftenant retorted.

Davis didn't like the amount of emphasis that Renoman put on the word "hands," for some reason it did not sit with him to well.

He then snapped out of his thought and returned to the fight in time to narrowly miss a mean looking gauss slug. "_Toooooo close_." He thought.

He noticed it began getting harder and harder to concentrate beads of sweat started running down his face, and dripping off his nose.

"_Why?"_ he thought, _"Why is it getting harder?"_

Once again he pulled away from his mind and set it back on the battle. He twisted his torso back towards the _Atlas_, and froze. Up until now, Renoman had been unable to follow Davis in his circles. While Davis was in his thought, his circles and perfect speed became sloppy, and uneven. The _Atlas_ took advantage of this and was finally able to put its sights on him.

He couldn't move, it is if he and his chassis had all of a sudden frozen mid stride. He heard a small chuckle over the open frequency.

"Finally…" Lt. Renoman said, "you actually got me worried for a minute there."

Davis gripped his controls rather tightly. His head was pounding and his mind was starting to race. He lowered his head and smiled.

"Hah…" he sighed and thought, "_this is it... I just wish the serge could have been here to see it."_ Again feeling very proud of himself.

He raised his head back up; there was a bit of an evil grin on his face. He started laughing despite his defeat, "You couldn't touch me," he said, "maybe a bit on that last little trigger happy stunt of yours but you couldn't lay a stupid hand on me." 

While he spoke he was slowly and carefully moving his sites to a particularly deep hole in the _Atlas's_ torso. 

"Well come of it then, your finished now, so long as the winner stands, none of that matters." Renoman said, his voice lowered to the cold and sharp tone that Claire only knew so well.

Davis laughed a little louder now; he was feeling confident again, despite the fact that he _knew_ he was going to die. 

"The leftenant sounded a bit perplexed rather than insulted or bemused, "What in the bloody hell are you laughing about?" he said curiously. 

He stopped laughing, it was the moment he had been waiting for, "Ahh, I truly do not, and will not, know why all you aristocrat elites, pause to talk or get the last word right before you kill your target."

Renoman raised one eyebrow, he would have responded, but something told him this wasn't a one-last-insult thing. 

Davis continued, "Heroes will do it too, you see it in all the movies and fights and stuff. You know the hero and the bad-guy are always squaring off, then you see one of them or both point a gun at eachother's head and pause to talk about who the shot's dedicated to, revenge, yadda yadda…"

"…Go on," said a confused Renoman, "But I've not the slightest clue as to what this means."

"But then..." his eyes glimmered behind his visor, "The one who has the gun pointed at wins, to an extent, he may be injured or killed later, but something goes terribly wrong for the nemesis who talks. If they both have their sights on each other then the events play out a little differently."

"I've had enough of your talk, there's no use prolonging the inevitable." But as the words came from his lips he realized what Davis had been talking about. His eyes widened slightly, and he wondered how _that _had come to pass.

Davis was laughing again, "I can't believe you haven't gotten it by now! But anyway, I simply think it's weird how all of you do that," he threw himself out of passive radar to let Renoman clearly know that he had a lock on him.

"Seems the tables have turned, the situation, like I said, always plays out a little different when both have guns at each other." He couldn't help but grin, "I tell you what then, I'm the hero and you're the bad guy or vice versa, however you want it. Being that we've already done the thing that we talked about, I say we enter the movies perfect climax in an old-fashioned shoot out. Whadda you think?

Lt. Renoman was speechless.

Claire couldn't believe what she was hearing, she never knew Davis as the man who would out-smart the Wiseman…much less get his sights on him during. 

__

"AND," she thought incredulously, _"He was giving hints at it the entire time!"_

Claire herself didn't get it until he went into active radar, "_events play out different when both guns are ready"_ she thought reciting his words. 

__

"The part about the pause and the last word thing was an insult, but all the time he was buying time to get his sights in place." She glanced at her radar, a little blue dot was there, accompanied by a red one. She wasn't more than three hundred meters away from them.

Then she realized, _" And he's been buying time for me to get to him!" _It baffled her about how smart and how clever he had gotten in the last hour or so. 

__

"Yes," she thought, _"things really CAN change when the odds are against you."_ For a fleeting moment she saw herself climbing out of her cockpit, she was smiling and beaming down at her troops, Miss Johanna was fine. Davis was smiling and waving at her as she touched the ground. Miss Johanna was all right and well, she came up to thank her, accompanied by Omega lance. Ian gave her a soft kiss on the cheek.

She laughed and waved off the thought a little reluctantly, but it was becoming a lot more of a wishful fantasy. However, she suddenly had felt empowered at the thought of making through it alive, she didn't know why, she found herself trying to convince herself it wasn't true.

__

"That's how he did it!" she realized, _"that's why he's being so bold and brave…she thought, "ironic…knowing of certain death yet finding strength in the desire of living."_

She remembered the little peck Ian gave her in her little daydream, and her stomach knotted, "_I wonder what was Davis thinking about_?" Knowing him, she didn't want to think about it.

She was about two hundred meters away; she could make out glimpses of the parking lot between other buildings. She knew that both were going to go all out, Davis was doomed if she couldn't get there in time. "_Oh Godspeed Davis, Godspeed."_

The two mechs were motionless. Davis could see Renoman from his cockpit; Renoman seemed as intent on the draw as he was. The look on Renoman's face was cold and intimidating. The look on Davis' face was determined and unnerving, yet he felt himself starting to crack under the pressure, his new found strength starting to wash away.

Renoman started first, "Ready?!" he said.

Davis shouted in response, "DRAW!" 

Davis let fly his gauss slug first, then his laser, and finally his missiles. Renoman unleashed an alpha strike; all at once there was a flurry of laser bolts and missiles, some missiles hitting each other while flying to its mark.

Time seemed to slow down for Davis and Renoman as soon as they had pulled their triggers, the world outside of their mechs was gone, all that was around them now was an empty black void.

He saw his Gauss slug connect, throwing off a group of missiles and a PPC shot, the gauss slug shattered upon contact, but not with out splintering the _Atlas's _armor. His laser was next, it gauged deeply into its mark, and cored through the right torso of the _Atlas,_ and caused melted slag to splatter off in different directions.

While he watched his weapons however, he neglected the shots that were heading towards him. After his laser shot through the _Atlas_ he thought it should fall and blow. 

No avail.

His eyes grew as he turned to the slowly advancing laser bolts, the PPC shot that was coming at the cockpit, the lasers connected below his torso, armor melted into orange goo and trickled down the _Bushy's _legs. 

But he kept his eyes on the crackling blue bolt getting closer to his cockpit. It was inches away from the glass now. All of a sudden, fear overcame him, he felt himself starting to shake uncontrollably with fear.

"_So this is how it ends huh?" _he thought, _"I will die in fear and agony…" _He slapped himself mentally, _"NO I didn't want to die this way! I WON'T, I refuse to let all of them down!"_

Time sped up again, and he was lost in a giant wave of light.

Claire heard the sounds that she had been dreading. She heard the sound of lead shattering upon metal, the low hum of lasers melting armor, the screams of missiles streaking through the air, and the sudden static that came over the open Davis's frequency.

__

"DAMN IT!" she thought, _"Didn't make it!"_

She came upon the parking lot, and laid her eyes on the _Atlas_ was standing over the fallen _Bushwhacker_, and her jaw dropped. Something like a terrified whimper came out of her mouth; she couldn't take her eyes off the _Bushwhacker's _cockpit, which was spewing flames and a pitch-black smoke.

Renoman heaved a sigh of relief; _"Perhaps he wasn't an amateur, he actually was able to give me a bit of a scare."_ He smiled and started chuckling. "Stupid idiot." He said thinking he was talking to himself, and kicked in the already destroyed cockpit of the fallen mech.

He turned around and started towards his base but stopped dead in his tracks upon the site of a strangely intimidating _Nova Cat._ He stared at it, halfway between fear and confusion. 

"Who...are-" he started, but he was instantly interrupted by a shot that came purposely close to his cockpit, he could feel the heat as it passed and nicely destroyed the part of a building behind him.

The _Nova Cat _started running in a circle around him, he was very confused for some reason, seemed as if the shock of being tricked and nearly killed by a cadet went to his head. One thing that he was sure about though, this mech wasn't friendly, and wasn't going to let him take a breather.

Claire was now being fueled by a chaotic fury; she was beyond all sense now. She remembered Mike's horrible death, and now Davis', and that was it, she would no longer let this monster go unpunished for his actions.

She started chaining her lasers firing one after another, melting off his armor; each shot with a dignified "splash." 

"You monster…" she said through gritted teeth, "You will pay dearly for this."

"That voice…" Renoman paused to think, "Where have I heard your voice?" he said at length, and started into the circle of death.

Claire grinned at these words; "You don't recognize my voice? Maybe if I asked you to kill me…perhaps that would spark something in that old empty head of yours."

It was Renoman's turn to grin now, "I remember you now, you're that little girl in the _Highlander_, the one that had a tantrum after I killed that stupid boy in the _Awesome_." 

The smile faded from her face, "Yes, I told you to kill me then, and now your going to regret every single thing that you've done, including letting me live." Her voice had turned cold; her cynical tone made the leftenant shudder. He could no longer sense any humanity in her voice.

He was doomed from the start, Davis's shots didn't pierce all the way through his armor, but now he was dealing with an Assault mech, with about five times the power of the _Bushwhacker_.

"I've been looking for you for a long time." Claire said, still in her demonic voice.

"A long time?" Renoman scoffed, "It hasn't nearly been two weeks," unable to stop himself from being more sinister he added "but I bet it has felt like eternity for you, hasn't it?"

Claire was silent; she could only give him a very, evil glare, and decided it was time to stop playing around with him, until now she had been destroying his less critical parts, like arms and weapons. But now it was time to finish what she couldn't start. He died now.

She broke out of the circle and charged him, he fired his remaining lasers at her but each shot bounced harmlessly off her thick reflective chassis. She was nearly upon him now, and he started backpedaling.

She fired all of her large lasers at his left torso, the gigantic blast blew straight through the massive _Atlas_, and it fell to the ground with a great crash, cracking the cement around it.

Renoman struggled to get to his senses; he could barely make out a giant figure moving slow towards him. He shook his head a little, hoping that would clear away some of the blur.

When he finally came into focus he saw the _Nova Cat_ standing over him, and the barrels of its right arm pointing directly at his head. He was immediately overcome by fear. His core was starting to overload, he couldn't eject due to the buildings behind him, and had a giant gun aimed at his literal head. He started shaking uncontrollably.

"Are you afraid?" Claire asked coldly. Her face was illuminated by a steady light emitting from the _Atlas_, there were shadows on her face that gave her a downright creepy look, and to top it all of, she had an evil smile spread across her face. 

Renoman felt something under his cockpit explode, thrusting his command couch up slightly, but he didn't notice, he was fixed on her face, not daring to look at it, not daring to bring his eyes away from it.

"This is what you get," she said, "This is the punishment dealt to those who have no right to walk upon this heathen ground, this is the punishment for your intolerable crimes! This is for all the mech warriors that went down with honor, for the men and women that died to ensure that we rid you of our world and the universe itself! The best part of your death though, is that it is paid with _fear_, indeed you are afraid. Judgement day has come Renoman!"

Renoman's eyes were bulging with fear; sweat was running down the side of his face like a torrential flood. There were red lights blinking and alarms sounding all over his console, but he still could not take his eyes off of Claire, or the giant barrel that was now starting to emit a small blue light.

The eerie glow from Claire's face was gone, instead being replaced by a look of anger and sadness, her sad beauty returned. 

"You see the light at the end of the tunnel?" she asked, "That isn't heaven, that's a PPC checking out the spot between your eyes!" she paused momentarily, several tears made themselves apparent; 

"They were just like this, trapped, helpless, on the brink of death; and now you will finally know exactly how it feels." Her wicked smile returning briefly after she pulled the trigger.

Renoman was screaming as he was blasted out of existence and into oblivion, however; now flames emitting from the _Atlas_ were now shooting and licking at Claire's mech. A white light began to shine brightly from the fallen warrior.

She didn't care; she straightened out her mech and sat way back in her chair. Warning lights and sirens began going off all over her console, but she paid them no heed. 

A new smile was on her face, not the scary and wicked grin, but this time a face of pure satisfaction. The last look on her face was truly a sight to behold. Her eyes were closed the soft smile, and the light that was now illuminating all of it. 

Her everlasting thirst had finally been quenched. Her Revenge had been served, and by god it was Sweet.

The blast came, engulfing the two mechs in a giant dome of fire and blue light. Claire felt herself slipping away in the endless light.

__

"And so it ends." she thought, and was swallowed whole by the light.

The next thing she knew she was sitting on the grass of a small hill. She didn't quite understand, until she saw him. Mike was sitting alone on a hill next to hers. He stood up as she approached. She stared at him through tearing eyes.

"Is this?" she started, but she needed no answer. The look in his face told her everything. She smiled and they came together in a kiss.

When they finally parted, they sat down together and watched the Kentares sunrise.

Ha finally done. Sorry took awhile to do seeing is I'm really busy with school right now. The end drags on a bit and I think I could have made all of it a bit more "colorful." But this concludes this story. 

Anyway I'm gonna get started on a new story soon enough, I have two stories up my sleeve and I'm deciding which one to use first. 

Shank

Lead…tastes great, less filling.

__


End file.
